Hopefuls face off

JON MARK BEILUE

Thursday

Apr 28, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Amarillo city commissioner candidate John Ingerson couldn't resist poking a little fun at the news of the day and the President of the United States at the beginning of Wednesday night's commissioner forum sponsored by the Amarillo Tea Party Patriots.

"In light of the news I read today about our president, I want to show you my birth certificate," he said, holding up the document. "I was named after my grandfather. He was killed in World War II when my dad was 6 years old. This comes at a high price and has great value to me. I love our country, our state and our city."

The laughter and applause among 11 commission candidates and 33 in attendance at the Amarillo Downtown Library was the first - and last - subject they all agreed upon.

The candidates differed on single-member districts, downtown revitalization, the impact of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, use of certificates of obligation, when to bring spending to a vote and even the definition of what a dilapidated home is as the May 14 municipal election approaches.

"Fred, I got to disagree with you," said incumbent commissioner Brian Eades. "The AEDC has brought in more than a few jobs that pay $9 an hour."

On downtown revitalization - one of the election season's hot-button topics - of the six candidates who spoke on the issue, two were in favor of continued planning and partnering with private developers, three were against and one wanted to slow the planning down. Candidates randomly selected four questions to answer.

"I believe in investing in ourselves in redeveloping downtown," said Ellen Robertson-Green, candidate for Place 1. "If someone tells you how much it's going to cost right now, they're doing kitchen-table math. Nobody knows yet, and won't know until August and that's the truth. We should all deal with the truth and not speculation.

"When we revitalize our core, we do two things. We limit urban sprawl which costs us all money. The other thing we do is we keep the personality of who we are. If you see a plant die in the middle and only green on the outside, that plant doesn't have long to live. When we invest in downtown, we get a bigger bang for our buck."

Fred Bartlam, also a candidate for Place 1, is bluntly opposed to downtown development as it's currently proposed.

"I'm completely against downtown revitalization," he said. "If downtown wants to get cleaned up, then the property owners need to get together and do it. It should not take our tax money going in to a public-private partnership."

Karl Taylor-Restine sees downtown development as a negative because it could cause neighboring homeowners to have their property values increase, which would increase their taxes.

"Many people on fixed income and the less fortunate live in that area. Some or many won't be able to afford the added costs of property taxes and may be forced to let their home deteriorate or lose their home completely," Taylor-Restine said. "I've heard over and over that people won't lose their home, but if property values go up, they may."

Eades said the current generation should follow the example of those who came before them.

"Are there any members of the 'Greatest Generation' here tonight?" he said. "Those previous generations invested in this community and in our infrastructure. I'm truly concerned at this time that this generation is in the process of going through those investments that they have made. We simply are not going to allow our downtown to go Upper Midwest Rust Belt."

Johnny Johnson, co-chairman of the Amarillo Citizens for Property Rights, echoed what Bartlam said in that tax money should not be used to further downtown growth.

"If people want to rebuild downtown, do it with their money," he said. "I'm opposed to using my tax money and your tax money. I'm not opposed to a revitalization, but do it with their money."

And Franscetta Mitchell Crow, candidate for Place 4, fell somewhere in the middle.

"I'm not against the progressive economical growth of our city," she said, "but I'm not in agreement with the methods that could be put upon the taxpayers without us having an opportunity to vote. We need to slow down, think about what we're doing, plan, be more transparent, and include the voters."

Carol King, running as a write-in on Place 3, was the only candidate who did not attend.

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